Travelling web folding apparatus



Sept. 4, 1956 E. COHN EI'AL TRAVELLING .WEB FOLDING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 8, 1954 a r w mum g m m E O w Mn J W W IA F m Y B n w W r v 2 J1 fi fl 6 w 3m 11/ 7. 3 2 8 5. 0'5 UM 2 V 7 .4 m I w 9 p 4 United States Patent TRAVELLING WEB FOLDING APPARATUS Eugene Cohn, Great Neck, and Frank Catallo, Elmont, N. Y., assignors to Samcoe Holding Corporation, Woodside, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 8, 1954, Serial No. 473,952

6 Claims. (Cl. 270-79) This invention relates to an apparatus for folding a traveling web of material such as a continuous length of tubular knitted fabric in flattened form. More particularly the invention is concerned with an improved form of the apparatus of this type described and claimed in copending application Serial No. 325,752, filed December 13, 1952, and assigned to the same assignee as is this invention.

The apparatus of the aforementioned copending application comprises one in which the web material or fabric is fed downwardly by a suitable feeding means at a substantially constant speed toward a supporting surface which is adapted to support the material as it is folded. It also includes guide means freely engaging the depending length of material at a point substantially closer to its upper end than to the supporting surface. Means are provided by which the guide means is first moved outwardly from the vertical plane of the feeding means a predetermined distance, carrying the constantly changing intermediate section of the depending length of material with it, and then is moved inwardly again, the intermediate section of the depending length of material being thereby permitted to return freely to its vertically depending position in the vertical plane of the feeding means. The speed of the feeding means and the speed of movement of the guide means are preferably so synchronized that the Web material forms continuous folds, one on top of the other on the supporting surface, the length of each of which is substantially equal to or perhaps a little greater than the distance which the guide means travels outwardly from the vertical plane of the feeding means. Variation of the relative speed of the guiding means with respect to the speed of the feeding means permits the formation of folds of different lengths.

While the above apparatus is generally, satisfactorily operable, it has been found that considerable improvement can be had in the operation of the apparatus if the web material is positively fed past and over the guiding means. It has also been found that considerable improvement can be had in the operation of the apparatus if the guiding means can positively engage the web material both during its outward motion and during its inward motion. The improved apparatus of this invention accommodates both desires.

According to this invention, therefore, a folding apparatus for traveling web material includes, in addition to an overhead feed means for feeding the web downwardly to a surface adapted to support a folded pile thereof, a guide means which includes a positively rotated roller located beneath the overhead feed means and movable substantially back and forth in a direction substantially transversely of a vertical plane through the overhead feed means. It also includes means for moving the roller through its path of travel and for positively rotating the roller substantially throughout its path of travel, the direction of rotation of course being preferably always the same.

More specifically, in the improved apparatus the guide Patented Sept. 4, 1956 means, which is located between the overhead feed means and the supporting surface for a folded pile of the web material, includes a pair of positively rotated rollers adapted to receive the traveling web therebetween in its passage from the overhead feed means to the supporting surface. In addition to also including means for moving the pair of rollers back and forth, the improved apparatus includes means for positively rotating the rollers in 0pposite directions substantially throughout their paths of travel so that no matter which is in engagement with the web, the driving force imparted thereto is always in the same direction.

For a more detailed description of one type of the improved apparatus embodying the invention of this application, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the apparatus taken along line 33 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section in elevation of a pen tion of the means for driving or operating said guiding means.

The apparatus comprises any suitable framework 10 mounted on a suitable support 11 to partially overlie a supporting surface 12 adapted to receive a pile of folded fabric. A housing 13 is also mounted on support 11 and supports within it a pair of feed rolls 14 and 15 which cooperate to draw a length of fabric 16 into the apparatus. The lower roll 15 is carried on a shaft 17 which has affixed thereto a double sprocket 18. A drive chain 19 is secured to one part of sprocket 18 whereby shaft 17 and feed roll 15 may be positively driven. Upper feed roll 14 is supported by feed roll 15 and is permitted to move freely up and down to accommodate fabrics 16 of varying thicknesses. For this purpose feed roll 14 is mounted on a shaft 21 the opposite ends of which are confined between pairs of vertical guides 22 (only one pair being here shown).

After passing between feed rolls 14 and 15, the fabric 16 is drawn upwardly by an overhead feed roll 23 which has a rough surface by which a positive feed is obtained without substantial slippage. Feed roll 23 which is carried by a shaft 24 journaled in bearings 25 secured to upper members 26 of the frame (only one bearing and one upper frame member being shown) extends transversely of the frame and lies in a substantially horizontal plane. The outer ends of shaft 24 have secured thereto drive sprockets 27 only one of which is shown. The shaft 24 and hence the feed roll may be driven through one of the drive sprockets 27 by means of a chain drive 28. A second chain of the same size as chain 28 but not shown is secured to the other drive sprocket 27, also not shown, on the other end of shaft 24 and is adapted to be driven thereby for the purpose set forth below. In passing upwardly from feed rolls 14 and 15 to feed roll 23 the fabric 16 passes over an idler roll 29 which maintains it out of the way of the guiding means that will be hereinafter described.

A pair of endless chains 30, one on each side of the frame 10, are mounted beneath feed roll 23 on pairs of sprockets 31 and 32. Sprockets 31, only one of which is shown, are supported on stud shafts 33 which in turn are supported on frame members 34 (only one shown). The outer ends of stud shafts 33 each carries a drive sprocket 36. The st-ud shaft 33 that is shown in Fig. 2 also carries a drive sprocket 37 which is connected by a drive chain 38 to double sprocket 18 of intake feed roll 15. Hence stud shaft 33 is driven from the intake feed roll drive shaft 18. Drive sprockets 36 on both the stud shaft 33 shown and that not shown are connected as indicated through drive chains 28 to sprockets 27 on feed roll supporting shaft 24. The feed roll supporting shaft 24 is therefore driven from the stud shaft 33 shown, and in turn drives the stud shaft 33, not shown, through the chain 28 also not shown. Sprockets 32 are idler sprockets freely mounted on stud shafts 40 secured to frame members 34. Collars 41 maintain sprockets 32 on their respective stud shafts.

It will be noted in Figs. 2 and 3 that all of the apparatus described in the previous paragraph lies wholly on one or the other side of the framework and thus does not interfere with the fabric 16 as it passes over feed roll 23 and moves downwardly toward supporting surface 12.

A pair of guide rollers 50 and 51 each having a pair of driving V-pulleys 52 and 53 secured to opposite ends thereof extend across the apparatus transversely of frame and are there supported primarily by a pair of nails 54 and 55 which may, for example, be sections of V-belts mounted on frame members 56 and 57 secured to and extending longitudinally of frame 10. Each of rollers 50 and 51 is mounted for free rotation upon a shaft 59. Adjacent ends of shafts 59 are journaled in connecting bars 60 whereby the rollers are supported together as a unit. Furthermore, each roller carries at each of its ends a spur gear 61 fixedly secured thereto, the spur gears at adjacent ends of the rollers intermeshing so that rotation of either roller will effect a similar rotation of the other but in an opposite rotational direction.

The roller unit as above described is supported on rails 54 and 55 by pulleys 52 and 53 as indicated. For the most part, however, the assembly is supported by the pulleys of only one roller at a particular instant during its travel, as will be indicated below.

Each of connecting bars 60 at opposite ends of the roller assembly is connected by a pin 64 to corresponding links in chains 30 which are disposed on opposite sides of the frame 10. Hence as chains 30 are driven about sprockets 31 and 32, the connecting bars 60 and the roller assembly are moved back and forth lengthwise of the frame. As seen in Fig. 1, when the links of chains 30, to which the connecting bars 60 are secured by pins 64, are in the upper flights of the chains, the roller assembly is supported primarily by the V-pulleys 52 and 53 of roller 51, those of roller 50 being raised out of engagement with supporting rails 54 and 55. Hence roller 51 is positively driven by reason of the frictional engagement between the rails and its supported V-pulleys. In addition, by reason of the gear connections between the rollers (intermeshing gears 61) roller 56 is also positively driven through in an opposite rotational direction. When the links in chains 30, to which the connecting bars 60 are connected by pins 64, are in the lower flight, the roller assembly is supported primarily by engagement of the V-pulleys of roller 50 with the rails 54 and 55. Hence in this case roller 50 is initially positively rotated, though again by reason of the gear connections between it and roller 51, the latter is also driven, but in an opposite rotational direction.

By reason of the alternate driving only of rolls 51 and 50 as the assembly moves back and forth lengthwise of the machine, both rollers of the assembly are always rotated only in one rotational direction. That is, as shown in Fig. 1, roller 51 is always rotated in a clockwise direction and roller 50 in a counterclockwise direction no matter in which direction the assembly as a whole is being moved by the chain drive, providing of course that the upper flights of the chains are being moved to the right and the lower flights to the left. Were the flights of the chains to be moved in opposite directions, the direction of rotation of the rollers would be of course reversed, but again would always be in only one direction regardless in which linear direction the roller assembly as a whole was being moved.

In operation of the apparatus, the length of fabric 16 is fed to the nip of rollers 14 and and thence is drawn upwardly over idler roll 29 by feed roll means 23. It

then drops downwardly between guide rollers 50 and 51 toward supporting surface 12. By reason of the positive rotation of guide rollers 50 and 51 in the directions illustrated in Fig. l, the course of the fabric from feed roller 23 downwardly toward supporting surface 12 is assisted and any tendency of the fabric to pass down toward the supporting surface other than between the guide rollers is eliminated even when that portion of the fabric above the guide'means is of substantial length as when, for instance, the guide rollers are in their rightmost position as seen in Fig. 1. Whereas the guide means of the apparatus of the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 325,752 positively engages and moves the fabric, to effect a folding thereof, in but one of its linear directions of movement, in the present apparatus the guide means maintains a positive folding contact with the fabric substantially continuously. By reason of this, somewhat more accurate folds may be obtained and somewhat greater speeds of folding achieved.

Various changes and modifications might of course be made in certain features of the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated and described above without departing from the scope of the invention which is rather limited only to the extent set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Folding apparatus for traveling web material comprising a frame, an overhead web feeding means supported by said frame and extending transversely thereof, said overhead web feeding means being adapted to feed the web downwardly to a supporting surface, a pair of endless chains supported on opposite sides of said frame beneath said feeding means and extending longitudinally of the frame, each of said chains having an upper and a lower flight substantially parallel to each other, a guide roller extending transversely of said frame, means connecting said guide roller at opposite ends to said endless chains, means for driving said endless chains and for thereby moving said guide roller back and forth lengthwise of the frame, and means for rotating said guide roller substantially continuously in one rotational direction during its movement back and forth lengthwise of the frame.

2. Folding apparatus according to claim 1 in which the guide roller rotating means comprises a guide rail located adjacent one of said endless chains and extending lengthwise of said frame, said guide rail being substantially parallel to the flights of said chains and a pulley member fixedly secured to the adjacent end of the guide roller and adapted to engage said guide rail for rotation thereby.

3. Folding apparatus for traveling web material comprising a frame, an overhead web feeding means supported by said frame and extending transversely thereof, said overhead web feeding means being adapted to fee the web downwardly to a supporting surface, a pair of endless chains supported on opposite sides of said frame beneath said feeding means and extending longitudinally of the frame, a pair of rotatable guide rollers extending transversely across said frame and having their pairs of adjacent ends secured to the endless chains, means for driving said endless chains whereby said pair of guide rollers is moved back and forth lengthwise of the frame, means adjacent at least one of said guide chains and extending longitudinally of the frame for engaging at least one of said guide rollers during back and forth movement thereof by said endless chains to rotate said guide roller and means drivingly interconnecting said guide rollers whereby positive rotation of one effects a positive rotation of the other.

4. Folding apparatus for traveling web material comprising a frame, an overhead web feeding means supported by said frame and extending transversely thereof, said overhead web feeding means being adapted to feed the web downwardly to a supporting surface, a pair of endless chains supported on opposite sides of said frame beneath said feeding means and extending longitudinally of the frame, .a pair of rotatable guide rollers extending transversely across said frame and having their pairs of adjacent ends secured to the endless chains, means for driving said endless chains whereby said pair of guide rollers is moved back and forth lengthwise of the frame, a guide rail mounted in said frame adjacent one of said endless chains and extending lengthwise of the frame, a pulley fixedly secured to each of the ends of said guide rollers adjacent said guide rail, said pulleys being adapted to alternately engage and be rotated by said rail during movement of said pair of rollers back and forth by said endless chains, and means drivingly interconnecting said guide rollers whereby both are positively rotated when either is rotated by engagement of its pulley with said rail.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 which includes a connecting bar connecting together the ends of said guide rollers adjacent said pulleys, one end of said connecting bar being secured to a linkin the adjacent endless chain, and in which said guide rail is located intermediate the flights of said endless chain whereby one of said pulleys only is in engagement with the guide rail during movement of the rollers outwardly from the vertical plane of the overhead feeding means and the other is in engagement therewith during return movement of the rollers.

6. Folding apparatus for traveling web material comprising a frame, overhead web feeding means supported by and extending transversely across the frame, said overhead web feeding means being adapted to feed the web downwardly to a supporting surface, a pair of endless chains supported on opposite sides of said frame beneath said feeding means and extending longitudinally of the frame, a pair of guide rails mounted on said frame, one being located adjacent each endless chain and extending lengthwise of the frame at a level between the flights of the chain, a pair of guide rollers extending transversely of the frame and having their opposite ends journaled in connecting bars, each connecting bar having its outer end secured to link in one endless chain, means for driving said endless chains to move said guide rollers back and forth in a substantially horizontal direction, a pulley mounted on each end of each guide roller and adapted to engage the adjacent guide rail to be rotated thereby during movement of the pair of guide rollers in one horizontal direction, and means drivingly interconnecting said guide rollers whereby positive rotation of one by the guide rails effects a positive rotation of the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 945,249 Shields Jan. 4, 1910 1,823,078 Addler Sept. 15, 1931 2,009,665 Kaufmann July 30, 1935 2,265,458 Stafford et a1. Dec. 9, 1941 2,301,006 Baker Nov. 3, 1942 

